Replying To countyman2022: "Look at some of the coaches on the squads, they would not be allowed near a senior or inter team. Some never hurled adult or underage at a serious level, if at all in some cases. Yet this is what our underage has as coaches and mentors."
Paul Kinnerk played Football. He's not a bad hurling coach. John Kiely also would've been a better Footballer, although he did make the Limerick hurling panel also. On the flip side some lads who were top intercounty players haven't been great coaches/managers, one lad managed to get the longest standing Senior clubs in Wexford and Kilkenny relegated in successive years.
Replying To zinny: "Great to hear that your club does everything right.
2024 there were U14H 53 Players from 28 Clubs, here is what the CB site says The lads have trained brilliantly since March following their trials and have played many matches throughout the year, both in competition and challenge games, We have two squads which are split evenly as per competition rules, and both teams will take part in the Tony Forristal and Sonny Walsh tournaments which are being hosted in Waterford
So what you are saying is that out of all the 28 clubs involved every one of them follow what you do and you know that of that the kids show up for all the sessions. In addition when these challenge games and competitions are on it does not cause any disruption to the clubs and their own ability to play games. And you know that because its all tracked. 53 Players 12/13 year olds put on a pedestal above their mates or peers in their own club, then as well how many clubs then put these kids on pedestals again but putting it on social media etc. So we put all these resources into Dev squads and believe that solves the problem whereas the problem is with the clubs. Here are a couple of snippets from Stop the Drop on why boys drop out this is 2024. Boys feel a lack of enjoyment and coaching support. Parents of boys are much more likely to suggest that they hadn't enjoyed it, and they were disproportionately more likely (almost three times) to say that they didn't like the coaches or being coached. Parents of boys were twice as likely to say that they had experienced too much pressure with potentially related male issues including not being picked for the first team or their sport not being sufficiently well organised. Teenage boys often feel they are sacrificing typical teenage rites and joys, particularly when compelled to choose between different sports. This decision can lead to the loss of friendships and, as the demands of training intensify, the chosen sport may become a source of resentment rather than pleasure. Additionally, they often face financial burdens such as out-of-pocket expenses, loss of job hours due to training and high medical bills for sports-related injuries, responsibilities they bear alone.
That U14 squad had 7 mentors - which means that once a month one of these mentors could get to a club session to ensure that they were being organized and run correctly."
We had a lad on that squad. He's a very effective hurler, plays with good intensity, usually makes the right decisions. He didn't miss any of our training sessions or matches. He only did 1 pitch session a week with the county, Saturday mornings. He really enjoyed the year, sadly he didn't make the u15 development squad this year.
Replying To MyOhMi: "Good Counsel played St Kierans in a first year Leinster final yesterday - got well beaten
However the worrying point for me is 12 of the starting 15 were from Kilkenny.
It possibly shows how far behind we are as a county - if we cannot get the basics right at that 10-13 age group we are always going to be on the back foot.
I've been involved in coaching from U6-U12 both hurling and camogie over last number of years. I am noticing a lot of the dual underage clubs are fairly poor at those grades. The standard of the basic skills on the vast majority of players is well below what i'd expect. However - I also notice (especially in Camogie) that the clubs who play football are much better at running and basic functional movement.
For me (and this isn't an anti football rant), we are a small dual county. Most of our clubs are rural clubs and all players play both hurling and football. Surely there is a way that our Coaching can integrate both into those important years where we teach the skills of hurling and the movement / speed of football. I don't think the current system is working - one night football / one night hurling. The most important skills of hurling cannot be learned / mastered in that timeframe."
We played O'Loughlin Gaels and Eirns Own last year in U14 Hurling practice matches. Both were D1 teams with O'Loughlin Gaels the top team. We beat both ot them. We also played Clane in football (they had a panel of about 60) we beat them aswell.
Replying To countyman2022: "Look at some of the coaches on the squads, they would not be allowed near a senior or inter team. Some never hurled adult or underage at a serious level, if at all in some cases. Yet this is what our underage has as coaches and mentors."
And you can take this up whatever way you like, but another problem we have is some of the best players I ever saw hurl for Wexford have never even taken over an underage team at their club, never mind put time into Wexford underage squads.